Norv Turner has no problem with calls in Sunday night loss

A trio of tough calls helped turn a potential win for the Chargers on Sunday night into a loss. After the game, however, San Diego coach Norv Turner wasn’t inclined to complain about the officials.

As to the roughing the passer call on linebacker Melvin Ingram, which wiped out an interception return for a touchdown that would have put the Chargers up by 17 points late in the third quarter. Turner didn’t gripe about the flag thrown on Ingram for putting his helmet on Drew Brees‘ chin.

“I think that it’s pretty clear that the league has done an awful lot to make sure that quarterbacks are protected,” Turner said Monday. “They do get in very vulnerable situations. You can’t hit a quarterback with the crown of your helmet. If you lead with the crown, you’re probably going to get penalized.”

And you’re definitely going to get fined, as Ingram soon will learn.

Far more questionable were a pair of calls that wiped out big plays on a late drive that could have tied the game and forced overtime. Even though it looked like tight end Antonio Gates didn’t commit offensive pass interference and, on the next snap, center Nick Hardwick didn’t commit holding, Turner opted to take the high road.

“I think that the preseason and the first three games of the season showed everyone who follows football how hard it is to officiate a National Football League game,” Turner said. “And I have great respect for our officials, what they do and how hard their job is. There are some tight calls and there are some bang-bang calls. There are some calls that go your way and there are some calls that don’t go your way. We had some that didn’t go our way. Hopefully in the future we have some that do go our way.”

Kudos to Turner for not saying what everyone else was thinking — that the officials blew both calls. Then again, when everyone else is thinking it, there’s no reason to say it. Especially when saying it could get a guy fined.

Still, we had to say something during the weekly Pro Football Talk segment with NBC officiating consultant Jim Daopoulos, and the late calls against the Chargers were one of the three topics that Erik Kuselias and I addressed with Jim.

Oh he has problems with them, he just doesn’t want the fines. He also has other problems to deal with to where the game wont be decided on blown calls. Chargers should have scored 50 points in that game. Our team is their own worst enemy.

cletusvandam says:Oct 9, 2012 1:04 PM

Norv Turner also didn’t have a problem getting 1 yard a carry from Jackie Battle all night. Go figure.

In addition to the two phantom penalties called on Gates and Hardwick in that final drive, the Zeebs in New Orleans Sunday night missed passed interference committed on Malcom Floyd by a Saints’ DB, which caused Rivers pass to be intercepted.

And the call on Melvin Ingram was iffy – that doesn’t get called half the time. The helmet contact was marginal.

But kudos to Norv for taking the high road and not inflaming the situation. That just helps the Chargers in the long run.

The San Diego Chargers Super Bowl Express will run over the Broncos next Monday Night. Be sure to watch it.

kattykathy says:Oct 9, 2012 1:18 PM

It’s so refreshing to see a team accept a legit call that went against them without throwing temper tamtrums and hissy fits.

Some teams and their fans understand referees are human beings and are not perfect. They don’t throw locker room fits, make threats on the refs social network pages, and threaten to quit playing for the rest of the year if they don’t get their way.

Packers fans and their players embarrassed themselves after a legitimate loss in Seattle, and have acted like a spoiled child after the last 2 games as well.

Norv, can you please give the Packers and their fans just a itty bitty piece of your class? They desperatly need it.

Props to Norv for taking the high road but that was the worst officiated game (non-replacement) since the NFC championship game in NO. Those refs shouldn’t work another primetime/playoff game.

eslaught says:Oct 9, 2012 1:20 PM

Of course Norv won’t say anything. He has no spine! Bring back Marty! Go Bolts.

oldfart49 says:Oct 9, 2012 1:21 PM

Firestorm of comments, including from non-Charger fans, that these two calls spoiled the game. Somebody should check how often offensive pass interference is called in last minute game situations.

FinFan68 says:Oct 9, 2012 1:27 PM

these refs are no better than the replacement guys so far. there have been just as many poor calls and no calls but the media folks are not making a big deal out of it. the only difference i have seen is that the time management impact is better. many calls are still grossly wrong even after review.

what was he suppose to say. with the way they get fined if they even mention an official I wouldn’t said anything either. With that being said I think the chargers are a dangerous team. And, I’m a Saints fan. I think the chargers are the only team that can go to houston and beat them.

Thank you for actually talking about this, got a lot of respect back for PFT.

Classy way for Norv to approach it, I would have been furious.

Also don’t forget when Rivers threw the pick Floyd was basically tackled before the ball got to him and the officials never called PI.

Some bad bad officiating. Looked staged to me.

sbc85 says:Oct 9, 2012 1:39 PM

Considering the fact that the Chargers were playing a team whose coach is the interim to the interim, maybe we can consider the bad calls a balance to the advantage the Chargers already had, and call it a draw.

Seriously, every team gets bad calls, including the Saints. I don’t have sympathy for people who feel they lost the game on bad calls, when it happens to everyone, and you still have your head coach. You can move on and hope next week the ball bounces your way. We don’t have a coach for 11 more games, and there’s nothing we can do about it. I don’t feel sorry for you, Chargers. I don’t feel sorry for anyone else in this league. No one is facing the disadvantage the Saints are week in and week out.

This new narrative that somehow the game was fixed for the Saints is really entertaining though. Care to explain to me why the NFL all of a sudden wants the Saints to win a game, when they’ve done everything they can to ensure we’re not competitive for the entire season? I’m very interested to hear the conspiracy theories.

Of course Coach Turner has no problem with his team playing mediocre football, missing the playoffs, and potentially losing his job either. He has never been able to motivate or inspire his teams. He is just a play caller – not a leader.

AlohaMrHand says:Oct 9, 2012 1:57 PM

Norv would make a great pop Warner coach.”it’s ok kids you tried and had fun,now lets all go to Pizza Hut!”Why am I not shocked they choked against a reeling Saints team?

Turner had to say what he did to stay in the refs good graces. But Pro Football Talk got it right – those were terrible calls that no self-respecting NFL ref should EVER call with less than 5 minutes in a game. I think even the refs were aware of what they’d done – the third call giving the Chargers an automatic first down (erasing 3rd and 37) reeked of a ‘make-up’ call for the first two, thrown by the white hate, btw.

The real game-changer, the helmet to the QB, was a borderline call, but at least reasonable people can .

I think they should change the enforcement of such late hits to be enforced AFTER the play if there’s a change of possession, unless the ref determines the PF was responsible for the change of possession (this would not be difficult to enforce or make the correct judgement, especially with replays.)

In this case where the pick happened before the hit, a better rule would be the team intercepting the ball retain possession, but the return is killed, ball is dead at the point of interception. It is then back 15 yards on the penalty, 1st and 10 Chargers.

prospero63 says:Oct 9, 2012 2:15 PM

Wait, why would he get fined? Why wouldn’t people voice what everyone is thinking. I mean, a cottage industry was created the first three weeks of the season. Criticism, justified and unjustified, was leveled left and right. Not a day went by without a post about how bad the officials were. Now I see that apparently the officials blew another game deciding call and it’s suddenly “nothing to see here, move along”.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Mr. Spanos will do after the season because this will be another 8 and 8 season.

boltfan24 says:Oct 9, 2012 2:39 PM

The fix was in, there was no way the NFL was gonna let their golden boy lose in a game where he set a record. The fact that Unitas’ son and the Saints suspended HC were there was proof and NBC proceeded to show Payton nineteen times by the way. There is no way Gates can burn Eric Berry last week but this week need to push off Roman Harper who is slower than a snail. With all that said if Norv kept feeding 24 we wouldn’t be having this discussion… I think.

ghlatty says:Oct 9, 2012 2:59 PM

Every team does get bad calls and yes, the refs are human. However, whether a coach “takes the high road ” should be his decision and he should not worry about being fined by the league.

really2011 says:Oct 9, 2012 3:02 PM

boltfan24 says:
Oct 9, 2012 2:39 PM
…There is no way Gates can burn Eric Berry last week but this week need to push off Roman Harper who is slower than a snail. With all that said if Norv kept feeding 24 we wouldn’t be having this discussion… I think.
==================================

LOL again…. Eric Berry 40 time 4.47 and Roman Harper 4.58 (1 tenth of a sec different). I am a Saints fan and not a Roman Harper fan but truthfully I am not sure Eric Berry is the model either.

Now the one thing you did say that I agree with is the fact that your biggest enemy was your coach and strategy. You scored 1 TD in the 2nd Half and that came after a great starting position after a bad Drew INT. By the way you may want to help the LT when he gets beat on the play before.

mogogo1 says:Oct 9, 2012 3:08 PM

Amazing how short memories are. After just a few weeks of replacement refs, it was like everyone had forgotten that the regular refs were far from perfect. In fact, they were only marginally better than the replacement refs.

The huge difference, of course, is how their mistakes are handled. With the replacements, every call was scrutinized by the announcers who were hypercritical and all but called them idiots. But with the regular refs, horrible calls are either minimized or outright ignored. It took the Gates offensive PI and a phantom holding call on back-to-back plays (wiping out something like 60 yards of field position) for Collinsworth to even get up the nerve to make a joke about the Chargers maybe wanting the replacement refs back.

As a biased Charger fan let me just say, the calls were bad, just in the sake that you’re trying to watch the last 2 minutes of a game…… and they call a penalty play after play after play. If the Chargers had any rhythm on offense, the refs made sure to kill it. But the refs didnt lose this game, NORV DID.

Watching this game made me feel like EVERY game of the Norv Turner show in San Diego. Nobody moreso than Norv lets blown out wins slip away right into a loss more than Norv.

The second the helmet to helmet penalty was called, I knew in my heart the Chargers were going to lose the game.

Until Norv goes the Chargers go 8-8, and if Norv comes back next year, im finding a new team to root for

akasaintsbaby says:Oct 9, 2012 4:42 PM

Does anybody remember that after these bad calls that the refs called defensive holding on the Saints and that got the Chargers out of 2nd and like 37? Automatic first down. Then the left gaurd could not block the rusher. There must be a conspiracy to get us to 1-4 when the Falcons are 5-0 in our division, lol. No way we can ever catch them this season. After watching their first game of the season, I told my wife and kids that we will probably wind up at 2-14 this year. I see the worst defense that I have ever seen play NFL football. I didn’t think they could get any worse than last year, I was wrong, lol.

zn0rseman says:Oct 9, 2012 4:50 PM

Chargers got hosed by the refs, plain and simple.

The officiating in that game reminded me of the farce that the Saints 2009 Super Bowl season.

zn0rseman says:Oct 9, 2012 4:59 PM

prospero63 says:
Oct 9, 2012 2:15 PM
Wait, why would he get fined? Why wouldn’t people voice what everyone is thinking. I mean, a cottage industry was created the first three weeks of the season. Criticism, justified and unjustified, was leveled left and right. Not a day went by without a post about how bad the officials were. Now I see that apparently the officials blew another game deciding call and it’s suddenly “nothing to see here, move along”.
——————-
I don’t think most people realize that the AP and most of the media are union members. The AP itself is just a union of media people. Union guys back other union guys, especially in situations like having non-union guys replace union guys. What should have been mostly a non-event suddenly becomes a big news story because union guys in the media don’t like seeing fellow union guys getting replaced. Likewise the union players were especially hard on the refs because they too didn’t like their union buddies being replaced.

I’m not even going to go into who it is that controls the unions, but they aren’t too far from Vegas, I’ll tell you that much.

I agree the what everyone is saying on this board. These ref’s are making as many mistakes as the replacement ref’s. The only difference is the rules interpretation calls. But that is it. The only difference is the lack of uproar by the media. I even heard the Monday Night crew take a shot at the replacement ref’s again even though what was right in front of them there were as many bolow calls as before, all they do is acknowledged a missed call. No out rage nothing. I would like someone to do a investigation into it showing a blown call, or not blown call from week 1-3 and then after and note the difference in everyone’s reactions. I wonder what the findings would be and what the take away is.

sbc85 says:Oct 9, 2012 5:49 PM

boltfan24 says:Oct 9, 2012 2:39 PM
The fix was in, there was no way the NFL was gonna let their golden boy lose in a game where he set a record. The fact that Unitas’ son and the Saints suspended HC were there was proof and NBC proceeded to show Payton nineteen times by the way.
—-

NBC showed Payton but the NFL did not allow the Saints to show him on the video screen in the stadium. They had to let him come or else it would look suspicious that they let Gregg Williams go to the Rams game. And really? Drew Brees is the golden boy? Since when? Since he was one of the most outspoken players during the lockout? Since he was one of the players to speak out against the replacement refs? Since he said to Peter King that no one trusts Roger Goodell? In what universe is Brees the NFL’s golden boy???

Its funny I see so many bolts fans crying about these calls, but I dont see a single one crying over the horrible calls early in the game that went their way and allowed them to build a lead.

First off, the roughing the passer was 100% correct. Too many people were listening to Chris Collinsworthless’ explanation and didnt listen to the ref. The penalty was for leading with the crown of the helmet, and had nothing to do with contact to Brees’ head as Collinsworthless kept trying to say.

The non-called PI on jenkins on the int is how they were calling all the plays that night, the bolts had several pass defenses that were exactly the same, defender going for the ball and arrived a split second early. Just because it ended in an INT, bolts fans want it called differently than all the other passes that night.

The push off on Gates was pretty weak, but they let him get away with it at least twice that I noticed during the game, so I guess they felt they owed him one.